COL·LEC·TIV a catalog celebrating the work of collaborating artist Ekin Aytac and Joshua Davids

Ekin Deniz Aytac and Joshua Davids are a collective husband and wife

team of artists working in glass. Hailing from Edremit, Turkey and Colorado, USA respectively, this dynamic duo draws from a unique combination of culture, heritage, and experience to elicit profound expression in new works of glass art. They have lived, travelled, and created artwork together since 2014 and are currently enjoying a term as resident artists at a non-profit glass studio in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA.

The signature body of work ‘Cityscapes’ is a sculptural exploration

offering reflections on the nature of self as it relates to the places and things that shape our experience. Drawing on both modern and ancient mythos as well as a meditation on the causal relationship between set and setting, the artists weave a new visual tapestry of form, light, and color. Glass is a unique medium because of both its elemental nature and inherent optic qualities such as refraction, dispersion, transmission, and reflectivity – which speak directly to the movement of light within a material. In these series’ traditional vessel forms are manipulated into unconventional objects used to evoke landscapes viewed from a unique perspective. A variety of hot glass color applications, diamond cutting, and sand engraving coalesce and together represent the visual rhythms of a world we inhabit together.

The Strings Between Us series is a cornerstone of the Aytac Davids

Collective’s sculptural collaboration.

Cityscapes: The Strings Between Us acknowledges the threads that

connect individuals to one another, to the spaces they inhabit, to the past and future, and the stories that we use to make sense of all the things around us. The series exhibits a wide range of technique, design, form, and color from which the artists develop a rich and dynamic visual vocabulary.

As artists Ekin and Joshua see themselves as story tellers, and each

detail relays a sliver of information not only relating personal associations but also providing a foothold for the viewer to make connections and find meaning as it resonates with them.

Lotus, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 15.5" x 15.5" x 5"

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Arabesque, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 17" x 17" x 5" 10

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Tempest, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 13" x 13" x 5"

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Far, Far Away, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 14" x 14" x 4.5" 16

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Atlantis, 2019 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 12.5" x 12.5" x 4"

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El Dorado, 2019 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 14.5" x 14.5" x 3"

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Vertigo, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 11" x 11" x 4"

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Dusk, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 12.5" x 12.5" x 4"

Persepolis, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 14" x 14" x 4.5"

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Cityscapes: Transparency is a new evolution of the Aytac Davids

collective’s body of work. Building from avenues explored in The Strings Between Us, this series centers on using the natural transparency of blown glass to highlight the interplay of pattern, form, and surface in these sculptural objects.

The reciprocal relationship between set and setting are a visual and

philosophical focal point of this artistic exploration. Allowing opposing surfaces to transmit light and interact with each other amplifies the conversational tone of the visual vocabulary established in the Cityscape body of work and generates an increasingly immersive viewing experience. As an observer engages with the space inhabited by each sculpture, the interactions between the object and light causes perception to shift, shimmer, and reveals new, unknown, and often unexpected aspects of the work. In this way the experience becomes a microcosm, mirroring the process in which perception feeds an understanding of the world around us.

Tower and Rose, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 14" x 14" x 4.5"

Flora, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 13" x 13" x 4"

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Aqua, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 15.5" x 15.5" x 5.5"

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Sol, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 15.5" x 15.5" x 5"

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Midnight Storm, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 14.5" x 14.5" x 5.5"

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Elysian Fields, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 13.5" x 13.5" x 5"

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From the Greek παλιά σοφία (paliá sofía) meaning old wisdom, this series draws from old world glass

In Cityscapes: Palia Sophia, subtle color shifts and opalescent tones overlaid with energetic cane patterns

processes, geometric pattern, and gilding techniques to create objects that feel both classic and timeless

form the base layer of each piece. The cane or line work draws on traditional Venetian merletto glass

but also accentuate the dynamic nature of the Aytac Davids signature design.

making techniques while sand carving heavily influenced by eastern geometric art interrupt conventional patterning creating exciting new visual systems. The diamond cut edges of each piece have been

The style of these pieces is inspired by the famous Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Constructed in 537 AD

meticulously gilded by hand with each piece containing nearly 50 feet of 23k gold leaf roll. The gilding,

the architectural wonder began as the patriarchal church of the Eastern Orthodoxy and over the course

itself a relic of different periods of Byzantine, Islamic, and western design, highlights the unique and

of history was reimagined as the land transitioned from Byzantine, Latin, Ottoman, and finally to modern

skillfully cut edges adding a new layer of materiality to the translucent glass as well as an extra dimension

Turkish rule. The amalgamation of influences and iconic styles become a metaphor for the collaboration

to the kinetic energy of each sculpture. This limited series draws from the conversations and wisdom of the

and artistic evolution of Ekin Aytac and Joshua Davids.

past to present a new voice in contemporary glass sculpture.

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Sultan (Padisah), 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 16" x 16" x 5.5"

Majesty, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 14.5" x 14.5" x 4.5"

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Icon, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 14" x 14" x 4.5" 52

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Empire, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 15" x 15" x 5"

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Dynasty, 2020 Blown Glass, Diamond Cut, Sand Engraved 14" x 14" x 4.5" 56

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